From my student days itself I have been reading this great inspiring book and every time I read it, the realization dawned that earlier I knew nothing. I agree, those days I recited its ‘shlokas’ just as a part of the daily religious chore. In this context I read the most authentic Shankarbhashya and books by Gandhi, Vinoba, Tilak (only partly) and listened to scholarly discourses by several eminent persons including Swami Chinmayanand. The most recent link in the chain was the discourse by Smt. Jaya Rao, in the Kamani Auditorium, New Delhi. Without any attempt of devaluating the views of the above scholars, I admit that her simple style of interpreting the verses of the chapter XiV of the epic, almost overwhelmed me.
According to her, the Bhagvad Gita helps achieve excellence in the world. It also takes us beyond, to the state of Enlightenment. It makes a thorough analysis of human being, identifies the areas of weakness and removes them.
Every human being is made of matter and spirit. Matter is of three distinct hues called gunas or qualities. They are sattva (purity), rajas (passion) and tamas (ignorance). The gunas determine the qualities of thoughts, emotions and actions in a person. Together they bind us to the world. Like the three primary colours red, yellow and blue that mix to create all colours, the combination of the gunas create the infinite variety of beings in the world.
Tamas is the state of inertia and indifference. In this state the best qualities get shrouded and our inherent talent is prevented from manifesting. Rajas is a state of stress and agitation brought about by greed , craving and lust. The incessant desire-driven activity and the resultant agitation of the mind result in mediocrity. Sattva is tranqullity of mind when one functions at one’s best. This is the state that all executives, , sportspersons and professionals in every field of activity strive for being in the ‘zone’, performing at peak levels. However, nobody knows how to achieve it. The Bhagwad Gita spells it out clearly and simply so that every one can operate out of one’s sattva while marginalizing and eventually eliminating the rajas and tamas within.
Quite interestingly, she also explained Gita’s four castes (Chaturvarnyan maya sristan gunkarmvibhagshah) in the light of three gunas. One who is satisfied in his intellectual pursuit and distributing that is a Brahmin. The person who is in greed and arrogance, indulges in actions and is defined as a Kshatriya/Vaishya. On the other hand one who does not know what he is doing and roams in his state of ignorance is a shudra. She lamented that this quality based social division deteriorated later into determination of caste by birth.
Every being has three gunas. You come up with peak performance when sattva predominates. When rajas prevails greed, disquiet and hankering weigh you down. And when tamas reigns supreme, you are overcome with delusion, heedlessness and inertia. One step ahead, the relative strengths of the gunas also determine the environment one goes to after death. A sattvika person progresses, the rajsik one moves within a narrow band while a tamasika person goes downhill.
( What I feel, this magnum opus of Vyas, if exposed to the public at large in such a persuasive and easily comprehensible manner, the message will easily reach the entire globe).
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